This website is intended for people affected by the Worldwide Church of God, Living Church of God, Philadelphia Church of God; or any other splinter group. However, these essays may be helpful to anyone who was once involved in a Bible-based cult.

Sunday, 23 March 2008

Common Beliefs Between the Christian Identity Movement and the Worldwide Church of God

April 19, 1995 -- on the Anniversary of the Waco tragedy -- a Federal building in downtown Oklahoma City was bombed. Over 800 people were injured, and168 people were killed. This act of terrorism was committed by people involved with the Christian Identity movement, who opposed the way the Branch Davidian cult was dealt with at Waco. In fact, the bombers attended a Christian Identity church in Scottsbluff, Nebraska; not just too far from where I grew up in America.

"What is Christian Identity?" I asked myself, while doing a report on the bombing when I was in college. This started a line of research which changed my life, forever.

The Christian Identity movement is closely related to the KuKlux Klan and neo-Nazi skinhead groups. They believe in Anglo/British Israelism; meaning, they believe that the British (and Americans, the colonial descendents of the British) are the lost 10 tribes of Israel. They believe that the Anglo-Saxons are 'Gods Chosen People,' and use this belief to justify their racist acts.

When I first discovered this information, I was shocked. You see, I was already familiar with Anglo/British Israelism; I remember my Grandfather teaching me about it as a very young child. It was one of Herbert W. Armstrong's core beliefs, and thus essential doctrine of the Worldwide Church of God. In truth, I had considered Anglo/British Israelism to be prejudiced from the age of 12 or so. However, I didn't know it was the same belief that the KuKlux Klan used to justify racism and hate crimes.

The difference between Christian Identity's interpretation of Anglo/British Israelism and what was taught in the Worldwide Church of God is only a matter of extremity. In 'the church', we were taught that interracial marriage was a huge sin. Christian Identity churches teach the same, but take it a few steps further. They insinuate that 'God's Chosen People' (whites) have been given the right to punish people who violate 'Gods Law'.

Christian Identity also seems to direct a lot of hatred at Jews. I do not remember anyone in 'the church' directly preaching hatred of the Jews or non-white people. However, I do remember being told that 'Gods Chosen People' will rule over the people of the earth in the 'World Tomorrow' when Christ returns. And I do remember wondering as a child, "Who exactly will we rule over?"

Did Herbert W. Armstrong truly preach racism? I was determined to find out. Of all the research I have done to answer this question, the most incriminating evidence is found within the books that Armstrong himself wrote. Discovering such a close connection between the 'church' I grew up in and the neo-Nazi Christian Identity movement was the first step I took in accepting that the Worldwide Church of God was in fact a bible-based cult*.

"God does not reveal in the Bible the precise origin of the different races. It is evident that Adam and Eve were created white. God’s chosen nation Israel was white. Jesus was white. But it is a fair conjecture that in mother Eve were created ovaries containing the yellow and black genes, as well as white, so that some of the children of Adam and Eve gave rise to black, yellow, as well as white. The one man God chose to preserve the human race alive after the Flood was perfect in his generations—all his ancestry back to Adam was of the one strain, and undoubtedly that happened to be white[...]

Mystery of the Ages; H.W. Armstrong; pg. 147

These words are undoubtedly racist. Where in the Bible does it say Jesus was white? The statements are not scriptural, it is merely the racist opinions of Armstrong. If the Bible did state that Adam, Eve or Jesus were white, Armstrong would have included the scriptures to 'prove' his point. Below I have included quotations from two of Armstrong's books: Mystery of the Ages and The United States and Britain in Prophecy. Both of these passages deal more directly with Anglo/British Israelism; the beliefs that both theKuKlux Klan and Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God have in common.

"So now again we come to the question, Why did God raise up this special Hebrew nation as “the chosen people”? [...] One point to notice here. The probability is that these people were all—or nearly all—of the white racial strain, unchanged since creation."[...]

"Here was a people of almost clear racial strain, and the God believing heredity of Abraham, Isaac and Israel."[...] "The nation Israel under Moses was one race—very little interracial marriage had marred their racial nationality. The Promised Land was then called Canaan. Canaanites, racially dark, had settled in the land. But God had given this land to the racial descendants of Abraham by promise!It did not belong to the Canaanites or other races settled there."[...]

"This nation Israel was God’s nation. But they were a physical, not a spiritual nation. Yet God gave them his Church, as well as national government and religion. God intended to keep them physically separate from other nations—both nationally (racially) and religiously. For them to intermarry with other races would result in two things: It would interbreed them into other races, and mix them into other idolatrous religions!"

Mystery of the Ages; H.W. Armstrong; pg. 166- 172

"The world has never known what became of them [the lost ten tribes of Israel]. The world in general, mistakenly, has considered that all Israelites were Jews.But in the Bible, the term Jew applied only to the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi. The Levites had joined the kingdom of Judah when they were expelled by Jeroboam. [...]

"The so-called Lost Ten Tribes—the kingdom of Israel—continued into western Europe and Britain. [...] Ephraim and Manasseh journeyed on into the British Isles. They became a colonizing people, and according to prophecy they were to lose their first colony."

"Let who grow into this promised multitude? Let whose descendants become that numerous seed, which shall number into billions? Not Judah, the father of the Jews—note it!—but Ephraim and Manasseh! [...] Who, then, according to your Bible, is the real Israel (racially and nationally) of today? Ephraim and Manasseh! Ephraim and Manasseh together received the right to the name Israel. It was to become the national name of their descendants. And their descendants were never Jews!" [...]

"Thus it is that many of the prophecies about “Israel” or “Jacob” do not refer to Jews or to any of the nations that are today the descendants of the other tribes of Israel. [...] Together the descendants of these two lads, Ephraim and Manasseh, were to grow into the promised multitude—the nation and company of nations. These national blessings are poured upon them jointly. These are the collective blessings which the lads together received—but not the other tribes!"

About the Author

I am 3rd generation Worldwide Church of God; grand-daughter of a Decon. My parents stopped going to 'the church' not long after 'the changes' (in doctrine, 1995). I was left with a pretty severe anxiety disorder, and a total inability to make friends with 'the people of the world.'

After contemplating suicide, I became a teenage run-away. I faced homelessness and starvation; hitch-hiking from one coast of the USA to the other. Now, I live a happy life. I am healing, but even years after leaving 'the church,' I'm haunted with insecurities that were implanted into me at a young age.

I still have re-occuring dreams of the Apocalypse. I've had to quit more than one job due to panic attacks, and often times I cannot leave the house due to agoraphobia. I have met many other former members of the Worldwide Church of God who suffer from the same problems. Many of us still fear the end of the world, even though we have discarded the beliefs of 'the church.'

I write to heal myself, and to find others who share my experiences.

* Footnote

The word 'cult' is painful for me to use and read. It was over a decade after leaving 'the church' that I finally was able to accept that Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God was in fact a cult. In order to accept this, I had to learn the true, detailed definition of 'Bible-Based Cult'.

It is as follows:

CULT (Bible-Based);

1. A 'chuch' who's leader mayclaim a to be an apostle,prophet; or may claim tospeak with God.

2. Members believe they arein the 'only true church.'

3. The leader and hisministers use intimidationto keep members loyal totheir ranks; such asteaching that those wholeave 'the church' willnot have an eternal soul;or if members leavethey will die during theapocalypse. Also memberswho leave may be shunnedby their family andfriends in 'the church'.

4. All cults require membersto give a large percent ofincome as tithe. This iscompulsory tithing (whichis checked); those who arenot faithful to the tithewill be disfellowshiped.